Rudy's conditioning looks fine. And he hardly looks slow. He just can't shoot, which follows a long-term trend.

And stop making excuses for Bargnani. If he had put in the work Rudy did he might have been worth something.

I agree changes are coming. That's been a given. The question is what the nature of those changes will be. Tanking isn't the automatic option.

No, it's not the the automatic option, but sometimes tanking picks you. So you take you shot. Truth is, I don't consider Ujiri a genius who can turn any team on a dime. What I'd expect is kind of a hybrid tank. Know we've heard it before, but evaluating and figuring out a way to add a layer of talent above what seem like 2nd, 3rd and 4th options......and you actually pick Drummond, Aldridge, Iguodala, etc when they are staring you in the face.

Cool name with about as negative a connotation as could be possible. Warlords exist in failed states and throughout history have brought on extended periods of chaos. But hey, if it's a cool name, that plays on his ethnicity in a way he would surely not be happy about, then giddyup.

Yeah - i sent a tweet to them suggesting it was an offensive term. Are you going to tell me you are happy to spout nonsense because two clowns did so? Masai has worked his ass off promoting and bettering the continent of Africa. Do you honestly think it's fair, or cool, to describe him in terms that ultimately reflect poorly on the continent? Maybe ask him. He'll hit you soon enough.

Yeah - i sent a tweet to them suggesting it was an offensive term. Are you going to tell me you are happy to spout nonsense because two clowns did so? Masai has worked his ass off promoting and bettering the continent of Africa. Do you honestly think it's fair, or cool, to describe him in terms that ultimately reflect poorly on the continent? Maybe ask him. He'll hit you soon enough.

I'm pretty sure if you listened carefully and understood that they didn't mean it in that sort of perspective, you wouldn't make such a big fuss about it.

Besides the fact, how old are you??? I never heard of warlord used as an offensive derogatory term in my life. This must've been some ancient diss or something.

What's the next problem now that you understand what I was "suggesting"? Did you want an apology or something for a definition you tried to put in my mouth?

A warlord is a person with power who has both military and civil control
over a sub-national area due to armed forces loyal to the warlord
and not to a central authority.

The term can also mean one who espouses the ideal that war is necessary,
and has the means and authority to engage in war.
Today, the word has a strong connotation that the person exercises
far more power than his official title or rank legitimately permits.

Warlordism appears in so-called failed states: states in which central government and nationwide authorities have collapsed or exist merely formally without actual control over the state territory.
They are usually defined by a high level of clientelism, low bureaucratic control
and a high motivation in prolonging war for the maintenance of their economic system,
mainly based on the extraction of natural resources.

A failed state is a state whose central government is so weak or ineffective
that it has little or no practical control over much of its territory,
no provision of public services, widespread corruption and criminality,
refugees and involuntary movement of populations and sharp economic decline.

Nigeria is not just preparing for the Presidential election in 2015 only but preparing for war as well.
Kidnapping, oil theft, insecurity, massive corruptions, high rate of unemployment, rat race among tribes
are all associated with warlordism that is now emerging in the modern day Nigeria.
Common bandits who should be in chains are now being celebrated as leaders.

Standards, criteria, touchstones are daily being ignored & neglected in the public service.
Nigeria’s problems are multiplying day by day.
The problems are worsening, abysmal and deepening.

A warlord is a person with power who has both military and civil control
over a sub-national area due to armed forces loyal to the warlord
and not to a central authority.

The term can also mean one who espouses the ideal that war is necessary,
and has the means and authority to engage in war.
Today, the word has a strong connotation that the person exercises
far more power than his official title or rank legitimately permits.

Warlordism appears in so-called failed states: states in which central government and nationwide authorities have collapsed or exist merely formally without actual control over the state territory.
They are usually defined by a high level of clientelism, low bureaucratic control
and a high motivation in prolonging war for the maintenance of their economic system,
mainly based on the extraction of natural resources.

A failed state is a state whose central government is so weak or ineffective
that it has little or no practical control over much of its territory,
no provision of public services, widespread corruption and criminality,
refugees and involuntary movement of populations and sharp economic decline.

Nigeria is not just preparing for the Presidential election in 2015 only but preparing for war as well.
Kidnapping, oil theft, insecurity, massive corruptions, high rate of unemployment, rat race among tribes
are all associated with warlordism that is now emerging in the modern day Nigeria.
Common bandits who should be in chains are now being celebrated as leaders.

Standards, criteria, touchstones are daily being ignored & neglected in the public service.
Nigeria’s problems are multiplying day by day.
The problems are worsening, abysmal and deepening.

In short warlordism is associated with anarchy.

:cookie:

oh man how could I be so ignorant to have realized this must have been what Bill and Jalen meant all this time! silly me for my ignorance to have glossed over such a derogatory term thinking it was okay. I am thankful to have enrolled in your history lesson along with LX for this enlightenment.

I'm pretty sure if you listened carefully and understood that they didn't mean it in that sort of perspective, you wouldn't make such a big fuss about it.

Besides the fact, how old are you??? I never heard of warlord used as an offensive derogatory term in my life. This must've been some ancient diss or something.

What's the next problem now that you understand what I was "suggesting"? Did you want an apology or something for a definition you tried to put in my mouth?

Where did i say it was a derogatory term? I didn't. I said it played on his ethnic background in ways that were far from positive, and which i'm pretty sure he wouldn't think was cool.

And i don't understand what you were suggesting, other than you thought it sounded cool. Do you understand anything i put forward, or do you just want to make out like i'm looking for a problem? There are warlords in Africa. They are not cool. And they do not in the least represent all the legitimately cool things within Africa, it's people, and it's culture. I'm sure Bill was looking for something equivalent to ninja. He failed. And the failure was somewhat offensive to my ears. Not that i want to label him or you as anything or pass judgment. It's just a failed attempt at cool.

Where did i say it was a derogatory term? I didn't. I said it played on his ethnic background in ways that were far from positive, and which i'm pretty sure he wouldn't think was cool.

And i don't understand what you were suggesting, other than you thought it sounded cool. Do you understand anything i put forward, or do you just want to make out like i'm looking for a problem? There are warlords in Africa. They are not cool. And they do not in the least represent all the legitimately cool things within Africa, it's people, and it's culture. I'm sure Bill was looking for something equivalent to ninja. He failed. And the failure was somewhat offensive to my ears. Not that i want to label him or you as anything or pass judgment. It's just a failed attempt at cool.

I agree doubt Masai would want to be called that. It does play off where he's from and can be viewed as insensitive. There's nothing wrong with someone pointing that out. We're not sitting here calling leiweke a warlord. No one ever said that about Bryan colangelo. And that's where the problems arise.

I'm pretty sure if you listened carefully and understood that they didn't mean it in that sort of perspective, you wouldn't make such a big fuss about it.

Besides the fact, how old are you??? I never heard of warlord used as an offensive derogatory term in my life. This must've been some ancient diss or something.

What's the next problem now that you understand what I was "suggesting"? Did you want an apology or something for a definition you tried to put in my mouth?

It doesn't matter how it's meant, it matters how it's taken. Well, if you say "sorry, I didn't mean it that way," i'd want the apology to be accepted. But yeah, it's not up to you to Decide how it should be taken.

I can't think of any warlords in the present time, but all through the 80s and 90s they were in the news so it's not reaply a historical thing.

oh man how could I be so ignorant to have realized this must have been what Bill and Jalen meant all this time! silly me for my ignorance to have glossed over such a derogatory term thinking it was okay. I am thankful to have enrolled in your history lesson along with LX for this enlightenment.

Fuck outta here...

Hey man, I meant no disrespect brother.
I was just trying to give you some insight into the reasons
it might not be "cool" for a Nigerian man to be called a Warlord.
Warlords are the ones responsible for murdering, maiming and
raping his people back in Nigeria. These are the men destroying his country.

It's like someone calling a Jewish person a Natzi,
it's just weird and feels gross.

Hey man, I meant no disrespect brother.
I was just trying to give you some insight into the reasons
it might not be "cool" for a Nigerian man to be called a Warlord.
Warlords are the ones responsible for murdering, maiming and
raping his people back in Nigeria. These are the men destroying his country.

It's like someone calling a Jewish person a Natzi,
it's just weird and feels gross.

woah woah that's taking it way too far. Whatever those dictionaries or wikis might say, the word "warlord" is quite a bit fetishized in the popular culture. Someone says "warlord", I'm thinking of Kurosawa movies and Japanese culture, Chinese martial arts movies, or Genghis Khan, way before I'm thinking about Africa.

If Simmons used "warlord" with Nigerian tribe wars in mind or because Ujiri is African, that's very distasteful. But like it or not, there's an undertone of cool associated with the word in the popular culture, and it could be that this wasn't a racial remark at all.

I think in our culture, we are a bit too quick to declare words racist or otherwise "bad". If we keep this up, soon we'll have no words left.